


Golden Boys

by giacantsleep



Category: The Outsiders (1983)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - 1960s, Angst, Child Abuse, Cussing, Gang Violence, Homesickness, Murder, Smoking, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:34:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29749203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giacantsleep/pseuds/giacantsleep
Summary: Bonnie Welsh is a broke college student. Dealing with COVID-19 is awful, especially when her roommate and best friend Anya Klayman is away in Chicago for family business. But when she suddenly awakes in 1965 in The Outsiders, an old obsession of hers, she doesn't know what to do other than ask the universe, "why me?"
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

"You have to leave?" I asked laying on Anya's bed as she packed her second suitcase. There were some problems with her grandmother's home back in Chicago, where Anya lived before she moved here to California. She's been my best friend since our freshman year of high school. We met in English class, we were assigned, table partners. 

Anya and I attended a K-12 private school together, I'd gone there my whole life, with the exception of the two years in the middle I'd left when I lived with my dad briefly, and Anya had just moved fresh from Illinois. We quickly realized we had a lot in common when we both caught each other doodling on our practice final exams. 

When we went to college we didn't think we'd end up together, especially since we both had very different career paths in mind. Although we both shared a love for art and drawing, we had different passions. Anya wanted to own a bakery, she baked every weekend, often experimenting with different flavors and ingredients, with me happily there to taste test her delicious concoctions. And then there was me, who wanted to be an author. I'd loved reading ever since I was a little kid, and I always came up with stories in my head, writing them down as soon as I could on whatever sheet of paper I could find closest to me. I'll never forget it when my teacher signed me up for a children's writing contest when I was in 4th grade. I came in 3rd but I still consider it a high achievement. Now I was in college a creative writing major, working my ass off to become a published author. 

Anya and I were now roommates, and she was abandoning me for her stupid grandma. I know it sounds bad on my end for calling an old lady stupid, but trust me, that old hag is a stone-cold bitch. And she's homophobic so I think I have the right to call her whatever I want. 

Anya sighed, zipping up her suitcase, looking down at me, "unfortunately. Grandma is sick and writing her will, she wants us to go over there to oversee renovations to the house. She hasn't told us who she's giving it to, but she's got a nice house and she said she wants it in tip-top shape for the person who's inheriting it. I bet it's Hannah, she's always been her favorite granddaughter."

I shrugged, Hannah was Anya's older sister, and a bitch too so it's no wonder the two were close. 

* * *

Anya left the next day. It was winter break and I had two weeks off to do nothing. I hadn't taken many classes this semester, and I was more focused on my novel more than anything. I'd gotten all my work one over the week so I have nothing to distract myself with. And I've got terrible writer's block so that's a nice bonus. 

I spent the first day of break doing nothing, I ordered a pizza and just lazed around all day. Anya would be disappointed, she's always asking me to eat healthily. It isn't my fault they made all the good food bad for you. 

The second day was almost the same as the last, except I went to pick up my food instead because they stopped delivering from the sushi place I like. 

When the third day came I decided that enough was enough, I was bored out of my mind with nothing to do and I needed to find some way of entertainment or I'd lose my mind. 

I surfed the web, all of it. Porn, movies, tv shows, Twitter, none of it helped me. I tried checking if anyone had updated the fanfics I like, but no such luck. 

I sulked in the knowledge that I had nothing to do when I looked over to my bookshelf. Anya and I were avid readers, me reading much more than her, but with my novel, and me just not feeling like reading, I haven't even looked at any of the books there in months. 

We had a total of three bookshelves, two up against the walls, and another extra wide one off of the wall, adjacent to the two, creating a nice nook where Anya and I had decorated it with rugs, blankets, pillows, and beanbag chairs. I remember when we first moved here, we had so much more extra time, we'd often curl up against the bean bag chairs and just read silently, usually with a little dessert Anya had made and a cup of tea. If it were raining outside, we'd snuggle up against the warm blankets and read our favorite stories, it was so peaceful, we could spend hours sitting there, just reading. 

I got up from the couch and plopped onto a bean bag chair ungracefully. I looked over to the bookshelves and scoured them for a good read. I'd read all the books here at least twice, and we didn't really have any new ones. There were two empty shelves on the bookshelf nearest to the corner where the two walls met. I suddenly remember the box of things we kept in the attic, there must be a box of books there. We'd moved three years ago and after getting everything in order, we just stuffed a bunch of things we didn't need into the attic. 

I coughed up a storm when I got into the attic, so much dust everywhere, I should've worn a mask. I debated going down to get one, but it would just be more time wasted. There weren't many boxes up here so that's good, a downside though, they weren't labeled. I spent the next hour ripping open boxes and looking for the books. I would've taken less time if I didn't get caught up in my old stuff. Like the Nintendo DSI, I stole from my brother or the deck of waterproof cards I stole from my mom's husband. Jeez, I steal a lot. 

Eventually, I found them, a box just full of books I hadn't read in years, and a few of Brooke's I hadn't read at all. 

I brought the box downstairs and rummaged through it. A bunch of my old books were found, _The Lost Hero, Out of my Mind, Wonder, The Tale of Desperaux,_ and _The Shining._ Brooke's abandoned books were mostly just gifts I think, _Silence of the Lambs,_ a series of _Dear Dumb Diary_ books, and _Roller Girl._ I set them all on the bookshelf. They weren't anything special, nor were they good finds, but it was sort of worth it maybe. 

I sighed and went to go get the box to throw it out when I noticed I'd missed a book. It was a small book, which looked to be just about 200 pages long, the cover was black in white, with a boy on the cover. It was angled downwards so you could only see part of his face and outfit, the most prominent thing about the boy on the cover being his heavily greased hair, slicked back, and the leather jacket he was wearing. On the right side of the book, were words printed sideways, I read them aloud, "platinum addition?" 

The book was called _The Outsiders_ and was written by S.E. Hinton.

Suddenly a wave of memories washed over me like a tsunami. _The Outsiders_ was a book I had read for my 7th grade English class. I remember me and a significant number of my female friends being obsessed with the book, and the movie, especially the movie. I remember watching, and reading the movie and book obsessively, and even reading a bunch of fanfictions about the characters. I was so obsessed I went as far as to read _smut_ fanfiction about the characters that were played in the movie. I cringed as I remembered how awfully written those fanfictions were. 

I remember loving the book, the story in general, but sometime around the beginning of Freshman year, soon after I met Anya, I just stopped caring about it. I got invested in other things, it was around this time that I got really into anime. And I'm still into it, anime is amazing. 

I sighed and thought, 'better than nothing'. I opened the book and flipped to the first page. 

**'When I stepped out into the bright sunlight'**

I stood up from the beanbag chair feeling suddenly parched. 

**'from the darkness of the movie house,'**

I maneuvered my body in the direction of the kitchen to grab a glass of water. 

**I had two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.'**

I took one step and suddenly I was in the middle of an abandoned lot, in the middle of the night, the book no longer in my hand, instead replaced with a small black spiral notebook that had been flipped open to the first page. The words 'good luck' written in gold ink, before they disappeared from the page and into thin air.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm not one to make a scene, so what did I do when I randomly ended up in some weird abandoned lot in the middle of the night? I went to reach for my phone, except I didn't have it. I put it down to charge when I went to read. UGHHGHgHGHGH. Fuck this is annoying. 

I took a deep breath, there were some houses near the lot, but I'm not fucking going in there.

First thing's first. 

I was wearing a jacket, weird considering I didn't have it on before. Actually, my entire outfit was different. Uncomfortable jeans, worn-out ugly leather boots, a flannel, and a jean jacket over it. Everything I was wearing looked outdated and old. I checked my pockets, a wallet, and a switchblade, plus the notebook and that was it. 

I opened the wallet, which was very much not my spiderman themed velcro wallet, it was a black leather wallet, this, unlike the clothes, however, looked brand new. No ID, no card, nothing but a few bills inside the wallet. 

"Holy fuck..." I muttered, as I gingerly counted the bills inside. They were in small bills, but still a lot of money. 15 $1, 7 $5, 3 $10, 12 $20, and finally 7 $50. It was $670 in total. I found it strange that someone would carry this much money in their wallet, but now it was mine. If there had been some sort of ID or something, that would've been a different story. But there was only money in here, so finders keepers. 

I quickly stuffed the wallet into my back pocket and went on to look for somewhere, like a pit stop, or maybe find someone to ask for directions. I ended up finding an old square building, music blaring from the inside, I could see from the inside people dancing and drinking, mostly teenagers. I entered the building, everyone else was too engrossed in the swing of the party to notice me. I passed a few drunks and managed to find my way upstairs. I was just looking for a bathroom somewhere. I desperately needed to go to the bathroom, and hopefully, calm my mind. 

After asking for the bathroom from some drunk girl, hanging on the railing on the stairs, she managed to spit out some coherent directions, which allowed me to finally find a bathroom. 

First thing, I peed. 

I flushed the toilet and when I went to wash my hands, I saw my reflection. Suddenly, I was no longer a fresh 20 years old, I looked 16 again. What the hell is going on?

My hair was weird also. My hair had reverted back to its natural color, the pink dye suddenly gone. And it was weirdly styled. It's like the kind of fair you see on 80's girls, like super fluffy. It was straight, though it curled slightly at the ends, and I had bangs now? I just looked weird. Like an extra in a movie from the '60s. 

Speaking of the '60s, everyone in the party had been dressed in vintage clothing, I was expecting to explain the state of my clothes, but no one even questioned it. I even saw a few girls wearing similar things, though most of them were wearing dresses and skirts. Also the music? Super weird, stuff I've never heard of before, and due to the quality of the music, I could tell they weren't listening to it through a speaker. The bathroom was also strange, I had to pull like a string of metal beads that connected to the top of the toilet to flush it. 

I made my way out of the house, the party wasn't all that anyway. I wandered through the streets of the town, which for some reason, looked run down and poor. There were very few stores that were open. I finally found a drug store and went inside. There were rows of magazines at the front of the store. And then isles of other stuff on the opposite side. 

I quickly picked up a newspaper from a stack they had at the front of the store, right near the door. 

"Oh!" The clerk said, "those are from yesterday dear."

I smiled at him and nodded, he smiled back and went back to his work, whatever he was doing. 

I frantically looked for the date, 'June 16th, 1965'. 

Well fuck.

* * *

I found myself a cheap motel and spent the night there, hoping that this was all some silly dream, but when I woke up the next morning nothing had changed. I could barely sleep during the night and ended up staying awake after I woke up at 5 am. I checked out of the motel around 7:45 am. I nearly forgot I was in 1965 and almost gave them $40. They charged me $5, and I thanked whatever god there was out there for allowing me to stumble upon this miniature fortune. 

The next thing I did was get an ID, easy as hell in 1965. Took maybe 30 minutes, they asked me questions, I gave them answers, after that they took my picture and that was it. 

Bonnie Welsh, born 1949 December 3rd, blood type O positive, 5'6, 138 pounds. 

Once that was done and over with I opened a bank account. Which I then deposited $550 into, leaving $115 in the wallet. The clerk lady looked at me strangely for having so much money, then she asked me what I did for a living. I smiled and told her it was in inheritance, I was supposed to have more but my twin sister cashed out the money using my name and spent half of it, and I only managed to get this much back. The clerk lady believed me and gave me a sympathetic look. Jesus, how dumb can a person be? 

I left the bank and wondered what I was going to do now. I now had an identity at this time, and I need to find somewhere to live. I need a home. 

I quickly realized that finding a home was going to be a lot easier than I had anticipated. I quickly realized that I had been dropped on the wrong side of town, which was great because no one wanted to live here. I found an apartment complex that looked promising, in that grimy brick building sort of way. It had a large 'FOR RENT' sign taped to the building so I went inside. 

I found a front office and knocked. 

I heard a muffled 'come in!', so I did just that. Sitting inside the landlord's office was a short man with a grimy mustache, he kinda looked like Danny DeVito if I'm being honest. He was wearing a dirty wife-beater, with baggy pants and suspenders, along with black thick-rimmed glasses. He smiled when he looked at me, "hello! Are you here to ask to rent an apartment?"

I smiled and said yes, his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. It was pretty obvious no one had been looking to rent an apartment, and he looked pretty desperate. 

I sat down in one of the chairs across from him, he had me fill out some paperwork. When I gave it back to him he was smiling, but that smile soon disappeared by the time he finished reading. He sighed and threw the paperwork on his desk. 

He looked over at me with tired eyes, "look kid, I don't know what kind of game you're playing-"

"No game, I swear!" He threw me a skeptical look, I sighed, "Okay look, I know that I'm not 18 yet, I just moved to Tulsa and ran away from my family in California. Firstly I can promise no one will come looking for me, second I had enough money to cover a deposit and the rent, and I'm going out job hunting today, just, _please._ I won't cause any trouble, or go against any rules. I swear."

He contemplated for a bit, "deposit is $10, rent is due on the 20th of every month, no parties, or loud music after 8 pm, and I better not see any drugs or you're out. I only allow two pets per apartment, and I've got lots of rooms on the first floor available."

I handed him a $10 and just asked for the apartment nearest to the entrance. He gave me the keys and told me the number. 

Room 1A, I smiled when I remembered class 1-A from My Hero Academia, which had been one of the first anime I'd ever seen. 

The apartment was cold and small. One bathroom, one bedroom, small living room, even smaller kitchen. Certainly, a downgrade from the home me and Anya live in, she's basically rich, and I got a full-ride scholarship so we live comfortably in a three-bedroom apartment with a spacious kitchen. But I can make do with this, maybe it'll grow on me. 

I went out to a diner, mostly just looking for a clock so I can make sense of what time it was, living without a phone is going to be harder than I thought. 

I went to a Dairy Queen and just ordered a coke, time is so slow here, barely 10 am. Since I'm 16 in this world I should probably enroll in school. I mean, it would be a nice way to pass time, school was fun when there weren't any strict parents who stressed you out over grades. 

Though I should probably just find a job instead. It'll only be a matter of time until my money runs out, and I'm gonna need to have steady cash coming in if I wanna keep living in my apartment. I just wanna figure out what is going on, but I'm sure it'll take a while, so I might as well make a living here instead of just being homeless. 

I didn't really notice when a group of guys sat at the booth behind mine, but I did notice how fucking loud they were. I drank my coke, paid for it, and left, I've got enough trouble without dealing with these annoying assholes. 

It was only when I saw a 'HIRING NOW' sign at some electronics store did I mentally thank those guys. 


	3. Chapter 3

I got the job, not many people looking to work at an electronics shop. There are a few employees there, Wally the manager, Casey who repaired the electronics, and Chris and Kevin, who basically help run and keep track of store shipments and orders. I was just working as a cashier basically and was given the title of Junior repairman, Casey would give me basic training and teach me how to fix things like radios, record players, those sorts of things. 

Casey was Senior repairman and he worked with the bigger more complicated electronics, and since there are only like 3 electronic stores in this town apparently, we get lots of shipments of broken things Casey has to fix. So I deal with the small stuff, while he does the real work. We don't have lots of walk-in customers looking to get things repaired though, so I mostly just do the cashier work. 

We sell radios, telephones, record players, typewriters, household appliances, and TVs, plus more stuff but those are our big-ticket items. Bonus for working there, I get a 5% discount on all electronics. Which is good because I've been filling out my apartment little by little. I bought furniture, clothes, kitchen appliances, all that stuff. Though I only spent around $125 for it all, which seemed to be around $1,000 something in the '60s. 

I make around $1.20 an hour here, which a just about minimum wage, and rent is $80 a month. Jeez, it's weird living in 1965.

It's been a week since I ended up here and I haven't figured anything out yet. There have been no clues hinting at what's happened to me, and it's driving me insane. Anya is probably already back home, she was only supposed to be gone for a few days and I've been gone for a week. We also text and call all the time, she gets worried if I don't answer her texts after a few hours, but days? She's probably worried sick, and maybe she's reported me missing. 

If she has, what do they think happened. What about my parents? My siblings? My friends? What are they gonna think? What if they think I was kidnapped? Well, I kinda was kidnapped by the universe and then just thrown into a different timeline, but no one is gonna even think of that happening. I don't have my phone, my laptop, not even my old clothes or wallet. Not to mention I'm supposed to turn in the rough draft of my novel in a month, what's gonna happen when I don't turn them in? Will I even be here in a month? 

There are so many questions that are being left unanswered, and I just need something. A clue, a hint, a sign? I just need something that's going to help me piece together what's going on here, and once I figure out why the hell I'm here, I can find a way to go back home. 

Just then two guys walk into the store, they're looking at the electronics lined up in awe. The first guy with the bird tattoo and the fucked up teeth says something about his mom, and the handsome one just nods his head. 

They stare into space for a while until I distract them from their previous spacing out, "Hello? Can I help you?"

* * *

Steve and Sodapop were at work at the DX, which was an auto repair shop that doubled as a gas station and convenience store. They were working on a new car that had come in that afternoon, when their boss, a middle-aged man named Wendell, walked into the garage. 

"Hello boys, I got an errand for you guys to run," Wendell said, holding up a paper that had been ripped out of a notepad with some notes written on them. 

Steve looked up at Wendell from the hood of the car, which they were working on at the moment, "uh, yeah sure. Where'd you want us to go?"

Sodapop looked up now as well, he wasn't too eager to leave, they'd been working on the car for a few hours and Soda just wanted to finish the job and go home. 

"I got a new car comin' in tomorrow, they got a busted radio and need up to replace it, so I'm gonna need you two to go into town, get a new radio, and tomorrow we'll put it in when they bring their car in." Wendell handed Sodapop the note, "Now on that note, I wrote down the exact radio we need, and I've got a tab over at the store, so tell the manager Wally, that I'll pay for the radio before the week is over, okay? It's the electronics store over near the movie house."

Sodapop and Steve nodded and went on their way to the store. They found it pretty quickly and entered. 

"Jeez, I ain't never been in this store before, Ma always buys our shit off from garage sales." Said Steve, admiring the shiny electronics the store had on display. 

Sodapop nodded along, even though the store was still on the south side of town, not a lot of people came in here, most couldn't afford it. 

"Hello?" That broke the boys out of their trance, they turned to look at the girl at the front counter, she raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

They took in her appearance, brown, shoulder-length hair, deep-set eyes so dark they looked black though they were probably just dark brown, and pale skin, with a few dark freckles here and there. The boys admitted, they wouldn't mind just standing there to stare at her, she was _very_ easy on the eyes. But instead, they went up to her, she was on the other side of a wooden counter, with a glass display, next to the cash register. 

Steve handed her the note, "we're looking for that radio for a car, our boss Wendell said he had a tab here, and to tell Wally he'd pay for the radio by the end of the week."

She nodded to Steve's words as she read over the note, when she finished she looked at the both of them, "yeah, I'm pretty sure we got this, I'll go to the back and get it for ya, and I'll be sure to tell Wally." 

They muttered thanks and watched as she walked through a door that said 'EMPLOYEES ONLY'. She walked out a little while later with a box, she set it down on the counter, "here it is, and Wally says that he'll give you guys a 10% discount so tell your boss."

They smiled and nodded, "thanks."

Steve was about to grab the radio and leave when Sodapop asked, "Hey what's your name, I ain't seen you 'round here before."

"Oh, I'm Bonnie, just move here actually." She said, smiling sweetly at them, Steve would've probably asked her out if he wasn't with Evie already, this girl sure was pretty. 

Soda threw her a charming smile himself, "well I'm Sodapop, and this is Steve, you live around here?"

Her face fell for a second but she caught herself before the boys noticed anything, and said, "uh yeah I live over in the apartments behind the building actually."

"Oh cool," Soda said, still smiling, "Steve and I work at the DX 20 minutes away, and we live real close by too. I got a kid brother actually that comes over to the movie house so ya might see him sometimes, his name is Ponyboy."

She grinned, "yeah maybe I will, if you guys have any problems with the radio just give us a call, the phone number is on the card I put on top of the box."

Sodapop grinned even wider and nodded, finally grabbing the box and walking out of the store with Steve. 

* * *

The second they left and were out of sight, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground gasping, "holy shit."

_I'm in The Outsiders._


	4. Chapter 4

It was about a week after I'd met the boys that I saw him. I was craving burgers from this place called The Dingo which is a diner, so instead of just going home like usual, I made a detour. I'd learned to keep my blade with me at all times at this point keeping it in my pocket. Especially at The Dingo, they serve good food but that place is dangerous. I decided to cut through this football field to get to the diner faster when I saw in the distance, on the other side of the football field, a couple of guys. They were all hunched over something, their bodies and arms flailing. 

I noticed their nice and expensive-looking clothes and saw something glint at me in the distance. They were socs, socs with rings...

I quickly ran towards them, grabbing a large branch that had been laying on the ground. As soon as I reached them, I whacked one of them over the head with it, he had on a green sweater. He fell immediately, and the rest looked over at me in shock. 

I suddenly saw that even though they were crouched down, they were bigger than I was, and there were four of them. I shook the fear away and pulled out my blade, 8 inches, and sharp. I pointed it at one of them, while the others held onto the guy I hit with the branch, "get the hell out of here, before I cut you, bastard socs."

I sounded pretty badass I'm not gonna lie. They quickly scrambled up and ran off, dragging their friend along with them. If I hadn't knocked the guy out they probably wouldn't have taken me seriously, they might've hurt me, I might've killed them.

As I watched them leave and slowly disappear, I looked down at the kid they had beaten. I instantly grew sick. He was all bloody and beaten, his body was curled up into a ball, his hands over his head as though he was trying to protect himself, he didn't do much though, he looked to be on the verge of death. I quickly took off my jacket, and tied it around my waist, grabbing him from his armpits and pulling him up from the ground. He let out a broken groan and fell onto my shoulder, his blood now on me. 

He limped as we walked, my arms around him, helping him walk. I kept asking him if he was okay as we made our way to my apartment. He didn't say much, but he cried and shook and nodded his head when I asked him questions. We entered the apartment and I set him down on a kitchen chair as I ran to the bathroom to get supplies. 

I took some dirty towels and laid them down on the couch, then I moved him there and laid his body down. I removed his shirt and winced when I saw the damage done, it wasn't only his face that was all bruised and bloody, he had a myriad of cuts on it from the rings, and there were bruises forming on his ribs, they didn't hurt him enough to break anything though. 

I started dressing his wounds, one by one. It was a long and tedious task but I didn't care. I didn't have work tomorrow, it was Friday. Once I finished bandaging him up he was out cold, I gave him a pillow and a soft blanket. I tried sleeping that night but I couldn't. Every time I closed my eyes I could see his face, I thought he had died. 

What did he even do to them? Probably nothing. I'd learned not only from the book but from my time here that socs just liked to jump greasers, no reason behind it, it was just them being assholes. But this guy... I mean were they psychopaths? Who beats someone half to death just for fun? 

I ended up falling asleep around 3 am and woke up around 6. He was still sleeping by the time I went to make breakfast, and even after I'd finished he was still sleeping. I'd made extra for him so I shook him awake, it was 9 am by then. He stirred slightly but eventually woke up. He was struggling to even sit up from the couch, and every move he made seemed to cause him pain. 

I set up the breakfast in front of him, just scrambled eggs and bacon, plus a cup of water. He ate slowly, and drank in sips, but he managed to keep it all down. Once he finished I took the plate and cup and washed them. When I got back to him I sat down on the opposite end of the couch. He stared at me for a bit. 

He looked maybe around 14 or 15, with big dark eyes, and tanned skin, his hair was greased up but messy from the sleep and the beating. He wasn't a bad-looking guy, pretty handsome actually. 

"Thank you," he said, his voice raspy.

I smiled, "it's no problem, really. Do you have someone I can call to get you home?"

He cleared his throat and tried to speak but in the end, I had to hand him a notepad where he wrote down a phone number along with 'ask for darry curtis, tell them it's johnny'. Oh, _OH._ When I'd helped him up I hadn't realized he was Johnny from the book. I knew Johnny got beat up by socs but still, I was more focused on helping him than anything. 

I went into the kitchen where I kept the phone and put in the number with the rotary dial, I picked up the handset and put it up to my ear hoping someone would pick up for the poor guy. 

Thankfully someone did, "Hello?"

The voice was deep and to be honest I was kinda startled by it, "oh um yes hi, I'm calling for Darry Curtis?" 

"This is he, did you need something?" I heard shuffling in the background but ignored it.

"I'm calling for Johnny, he got hurt real bad and I brought him over to my place to help him with his wounds, anyway he told me to call you, said you could take him home?"

"Um yes," he sounded worried now, "is he okay? Is Johnny okay?"

I heard some noises in the background again, but this time it was several different voices asking about Johnny. 

I sighed, "the socs got him pretty bad, it's not a pretty sight, but if you could take him home- he didn't break anything, but he'll have bruises for a while and they hurt his face real bad, it'll probably become a permanent scar."

Darry cursed, "a-all right thank you, could you tell us where ya are? We'll go over to pick up Johnny."

I gave him my address and we said our goodbyes. 

About 10 minutes later I heard a knock on the door, I opened it and sure enough, 6 guys clambered in, and immediately went over to Johnny. 

This is gonna be weird.


	5. Chapter 5

When Sodapop got home from work he brought Steve with him, Soda greeted me like normal whilst Steve just grunted, must've been a good day, he usually doesn't really acknowledge me. I think that he thinks if he ignores me enough I'll just poof out of existence and he won't have to deal with me anymore. I was doing homework in the kitchen, and Soda and Steve were fixing themselves something to eat. 

"Hey Pone," Soda said. Steve turned to me and scowled as if I'd telepathically asked Sodapop to tell me something, Soda continued, "you know the electronics store by the movie house?"

I nodded, "yeah, it's called Marty's or somethin'." Soda nodded, "So get this, we walk in lookin' for this radio for this car we're supposed ta fix, expectin to see some old guy at the front desk, but instead it's this girl, maybe 'round my age, and she's real pretty, told her to look out for ya since you go to the movies all the time. I think it's 'bout time you got yourself a girlfriend."

I didn't have the heart to tell Soda I wasn't looking to get into any relationships, so instead, I smiled and nodded, looking back down on my homework.

I didn't think about Sodapop or the girl he mentioned until about a week. Soda and Steve were right beside me, we'd stopped at the electronics store, Soda had made me, but instead of a pretty girl, it was a guy working at the front desk. 

Soda asked about the girl and the man said, "Oh Bonnie? You just missed her, left 'bout 5 minutes ago, boss let her go home early. But uh," he looked at a sheet of paper beside him, "she'll be here Tuesday, workin' from 9 to 3."

We nodded and thanked him, and continued walking on home. I was pretty relieved that she wasn't there, I didn't wanna pretend to be into her if Soda was there. And she probably wouldn't have liked me either. If she was the same age as Sodapop and met him first, she wouldn't want to go out with his less handsome kid brother. 

As we continued to walk home we came across Johnny's jacket, we figured he'd forgotten it until Steve noticed some rust-colored patches on the collar of the jacket, we looked down at the grass and immediately we all realized what had really happened. We ran widely looking for him, but we found nothing. 

"Guys!" Steve shouted worriedly, Soda and I ran over to him, he was standing over a large patch of bloody grass, it looked fresh still, nothing there but a giant stick.

Soda turned pale, "you don't think-"

"I do," Steve said, "socs probably got to him, ain't no more body, too much blood for him to leave on his own. Probably killed him, dragged him off to go dump his body somewhere."

I couldn't sleep that night. When we told the gang what had happened, they went ballistic, we kept looking for him but nothing, I feared that what Steve had said was true, till we got a knock on our door. It was a soc. 

We were silent but watchful as Darry let him in, like predators watching meek prey. 

"You friends with that tan kid, one with the jacket?" He asked slowly, choosing his words carefully.

Dally almost jumped at him but we held him back, he growled at the soc, "the hell do you know about him."

The soc gulped, "look I didn't know we were gonna hurt him so bad, just wanted ta rough him up a little-"

Two-Bit lunged at the soc and pinned him to the wall by the scruff of his sweater, he held his switch up to the socs neck, "the hell'd you do!? Did you kill him? Huh?!"

"No! No, we-we didn't, look this girl came over, hit my buddy over the head with a pipe or somethin' I don't know, knocked him out cold, she-she took out a blade and scared us off I swear. Think she took the guy somewhere, I-I don't know where just came here to tell you! I went back because I dropped my wallet out in the field and saw you guys holdin' his jacket, figured you were lookin' for him!"

Two-Bit let the soc go and he ran out the door, sprinting out of the neighborhood. I wanted to go after him, didn't know what I'd do but I wanted to hurt him. But at least we knew now that Johnny was okay. 

The next morning I walked into the kitchen, everyone had slept over, Dally and Two were crashing on the couches, and Steve fell asleep on the floor. When everyone finally woke up no one did anything, despite knowing that Johnny was okay, we still had no clue where he was, or when he'd be home. 

Then the phone rang, Darry answered. 

"Hello?"

No one was really paying any attention, but I overheard him.

"This is he, did you need something?"

Darry'd face grew worried, "Um yes, is he okay? Is Johnny okay?"

Everyone perked up at that, Soda looked at Darry hopeful, "that Johnny?" 

Darry shushed him, he put the phone up to his ear, and slowly his face grew angry, he cursed silently, "a-all right thank you, could you tell us where you are? We'll go over to pick up Johnny."

After a bit he hung up the phone and looked at us, "it was the girl who picked up Johnny, she just gave me her address let's go."

Soda, Steve, and I hopped into the truck while Two and Dally took Two's car.

When we got there we all practically raced to the door, Darry knocked politely, though Dally and Two-Bit would've gladly knocked the door down. A girl opened it and wow. I shook my head and raced to the couch like the other guys, there was Johnny. 

He looked pretty bad but it was obvious he'd been well taken care of, his face and arms were bandaged, and looking at his injuries and the towel he was sitting on, there was a lot of blood, she took good care of him. 

We put Johnny in Two-Bits car and went back to the apartment to thank the girl. 

Darry shook hands with her, "thank you for taking care of him, uh miss."

She smiled at him, "it was no problem, he was hurt so I just helped him, and the name is Bonnie, Bonnie Welsh."

"Well thank you, Bonnie."

"Hey, you're the girl from the electronics store," Soda said with a smile on his face, he looked over at me, "this is the girl Pony."

I only smiled at her, and after that, we went home. Johnny stayed over at our place for a couple of weeks after that, we weren't gonna let him go home when he was all bruised up like that, especially because of his dad and mom. I wanted to go over to Bonnie's house during those weeks, Johnny did too, once he started getting better he would ask us to take him over there, he wanted to thank her. 

Eventually, he stopped asking, but I knew he still wanted to see her. I think we all did. No way in hell anyone else would've stopped to help Johnny, especially not a girl like that. I think we all appreciated her kindness and the way she looked at us like we were people. 

Other girls look at us like they want something out of us, and most girls just look down on us greasers, even if they're greasers too, they act disgusted. But she didn't. And she didn't pity us either. It was as if we weren't greasers at all. I missed that look, I didn't realize how much I hated the way people treated us until now. 

And all it took was one kind girl. 


End file.
